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HISTORY 



OF 



DICKINSON COLLEGE 



BY 



GEN. HORATIO C. KING, LL.D., 



OF THE CLASS OF '58. 



Kkpkinted vmni the 

AMElilCAN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE, 

EEnRUARV March, 1H1)7; 
A PHI I- May, 181)7. 



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OOMrtTMENTS OP 

HoRATTo c. King, 

«7fiFu»tD08L,BfNk(yi,,H.v. 



HISTORY 



OF 



DICKINSON COLLEGE 



BY 



GEN. HORATIO C. KING, LL.D., 



OF THE CLASS OF '58. 



THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE PUBLISHING CO., 

7 South Street, 
New York City. 



lit) 1(3 fe 



p. 
Author'. 
(Person). 

26My'03 



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Bichinson CollCQC. 



First Period. 




J"OHN DICKINSON,oneoftheprin- 
Cy cipal founders of the College, for 
whom it is named, was born in Maryland, 
of Quaker parents, in 1732. He studied 
law in Philadelphia, continued his 
studies for three years in the Temple 
in London, and returned to practice 
in the former city. He was a mem- 
ber of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 
1764 and, in 1765, of the Colonial 
Congress which convened in New 
York to oppose the Stamp Act. His vig- 
orous opposition by pen and word of 
mouth made him conspicuous, and, in 
1774, he was chosen a member of the Con- 
tinental Congress where a series of im- 
portant State papers won for him a glow- 
ing tribute from Lord Chatham. Re- 
garding the Declaration of Independ- 
ence as premature, he opposed it and ab- 
sented himself when that immortal docu- 
ment was signed. But, patriotic to the 
core, he enlisted as a private in the Con- 
tinental army and served his full term. 
He re-enlisted, in 1777, in Delaware, and 
was soon after commissioned Brigadier 
General. In 1779 he was elected to Con- 
gress from Delaware. In 1780 he was 
returned to the Assembly of that State 
and, in 1781, was elected President of the 
State. From 1782 to 1785 he held the 
same office in Pennsylvania, at the same 
time serving as a member that framed 
the Federal Constitution. Nine letters 
written at this time under the nom de 
plume of "Fabius," urging the adoption 
of the Constitution, created a profound 
impression. They were followed in 1797 
by fourteen letters tending to promote a 
friendly feeling toward our Revolutionary 
ally, France. In 1796, he received from 
the College of New Jersey (Princeton) 



the honorary degree of LL.D. The re- 
mainder of his life was devoted to the col- 
lection and publication of his numerous 
writings, and he died at Wilmington, 
Delaware, in 1808. He is described as 
tall and spare, his hair white as snow, his 
garb uniting with the severe simplicity of 
his sect a neatness and elegance pecu- 
liarly in keeping with it. He was loved 
and respected of all. "In social life as a 
conversationalist, his wide range of mis- 
cellaneous information, his habitual ele- 
gance and eloquence of language, com- 
bined with his sincerity of heart made 
him exceedingly agreeable. He united 
with the finest accomplishments of the 
man and the patriot, a sacred regard to 
the doctrines and precepts of Christi- 
anity." 

Such is the brief biography of the dis- 
tinguished man who was mainly instru- 
mental in founding Dickinson College, 
at his residence in Philadelphia on the 
15th of September, 1783, one week after 
the charter was secured, when he was 
chosen first President of its Board of 
Trustees. The scheme of establishing an 
institution of learning remote from the 
seaboard in a then comparative wilder- 
ness was not new, though held by many 
to be chimerical. The custom of sending 
young men to Europe to be educated was 
distasteful to the patriotic lovers of a new- 
found liberty, and through the energy and 
activity mainly of Dickinson, the doubt- 
ful enterprise was undertaken. He 
proved his faith by his liberality and con- 
tributed freely of his means in carrying 
out the project. In granting the charter, 
the Pennsylvania Assembly recognized 
this in the following terms: 

"In memory of the great and important 
services rendered to his country by his 
Excellency John Dickinson, Esquire, 
President of the Supreme Executive 
Council, and in commemoration of his 
very liberal donation to the institution, 
the said College shall be forever hereaf- 
ter called and known by the name of 
Dickinson College." 

The borough of Carlisle, about one 
hundred and twenty miles from Philadel- 
phia, was selected as the site. 

At this early period there was but one 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



college in each of the New England 
States, one in New York (Columbia or 
King's College), two in New Jersey, Riit- 
ger's (Queen's), and the College of New 
Jersey (Princeton) ; two in Virginia and 
one in Pennsylvania (The University), 
established in 1755. All were feeble in 
the number of faculty and students, but 
the desire for higher education was 
on the increase and the prophecy of fu- 
ture needs spurred the projectors to carry 
out their plans. 

Although with scarcely a stage-coach 



In 1753 it had but five houses, and in 
1783 the population did not exceed fifteen 
hundred. 

The first Board of Trustees comprised 
forty members, men of prominence, of 
whom one-third, as required by the char- 
ter, were clergymen. Of these Dickin- 
son and Dr. Benjamin Rush, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, were most conspicuous in their ef- 
forts to nurture and build up the difficult 
enrerprise. Although Dickinson's lib- 
erality had secured to him the honor of 




Hun. John Dickinson. 



connection with the outer world, Carlisle 
had attained considerable prominence in 
the war, both through the contingent 
furnished to the Continental army and 
from its designation as a rendezvous for 
recruits and confinement of prisoners of 
war. The barracks erected by the cap- 
tured Hessians became the nucleus of a 
military post occupied by troops up to 
within a few years, until converted into an 
Indian School, whose pupils have recently 
given a good account of their athletic 
prowess in their encounters with seveial 
of our most prominent colleges. 



the name, to Rush belongs at least equal 
honor for his untiring devotion for more 
than a fourth of a century during which, 
at times, his courage and hopefulness in- 
spired the drooping and established the 
institution upon a firm and permanent 
foundation. 

The early contributions in America to 
seats of learning, when compared with 
the munificent gifts of the present day, 
seem almost trivial. It will be recalled 
thai Yale secured immortality for his 
name by a contribution of five hundred 
jjound."- in goods and books to a college 




EAST COLLEGE. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 







Kev. Charles Nisbet, D. D,, 
First President of Dickinson College. 

already established. Just how much 
Dickinson gave is not definitely known, 
but the records show a plantation (im- 
proved lands) on Marsh Creek in York, 
now Adams County, a like plantation of 
five hundred acres in Cumberland County. 
a valuable collection of books from his 
library, five hundred dollars in cash and 
probably other minor donations of which 
no minute was made. The State also was 
not unmindful of its young charge and 
aided it from time to time as pressing 
needs required. And "pressing needs ' 
have Ijeen and are now and ever will be 
the normal condition of all great institu- 
tions of learning which desire to keep 
pace with the progress of the world and 
the demands for the highest intellectual 
culture. 

The Board of Trustees first met in Car- 
lisle on the 6th of April, 1784. The long- 
ride through the wilderness cannot be ap"^ 
preciated by those who are whirled in 
the palatial cars of the Pennsylvania 
Railroad from Philadelphia in less than 
four hours. Dickinson and Rush were 
both there, the former presiding. They 
adopted a characteristic seal, the de- 
vice consisting of a Bible, a Telescope and 
a Liberty Cap, the one above the other, 
and beneath, the motto "Pietate et Doc- 
trina tuta libertas." With an assured 
annual income of only one hundred an.I 
thirty pounds, they proceeded to elect 
Rev. Charles Nisbet, D. D., of Montrose. 
Scotland, Principal, and James Ross, 
A.M. (author of a Latin Grammar), Profes- 
sor of Greek and Latin. Nisbet was a pro- 



nounced friend of America and had suffer- 
ed for it. When the call came through Dr. 
Rush, he not unwillingly resolved to cast 
his fortunes with the new land of freedom. 
In June, 1785, he arrived from Europe 
'\ and in July following reached Carlisle. He 
|found the Grammar School in operation 
Sunder Professor Ross, assisted by Robert 
f Johnson (afterwards Professor of Mathe- 
1 inatics) as tutor. Soon after, the faculty 
■ was increased by the election of Rev. 
Robert Davidson, D. D. (pastor of the 
Presbyterian Church in Carlisle) as Pro- 
fessor of History, Belles Lettres, etc., 
and a Mr. Jait was also appointed "to 
teach the students to read and write the 
English language with elegance and pro- 
priety" — a branch somewhat neglected 
in some of our modern institutions. Dr. 
Nisbet was an intellectual giant. Besides 
his ordinary duties as Principal, he de- 
livered four co-ordinate courses of lec- 
tures on Moral Philosophy, Logic, Phil- 
osophy of the Mind, Belles Lettres, and 
on Sj'stematic Theology, which latter 
continued over two years, embracing 
"four hundred and eighteen lectures, 
probably the first course of lectures on 
systematic theology delivered in this 
country." For twenty years, instruction 
was given in a two-story brick building 
near the corner of Bedford Street and 
Liberty Alley, the site now occupied by 
the public school. Subsequently some 
portion of the old barracks was occupied 
for recitation rooms and dormitories. 
But the proposition to purchase them 
happily fell through, and the present 
more eligible site in the town was se- 
lected. But it is not proposed to trace 
the College through its early financial 
struggles. Its friends were numerous, a 
lottery helped somewhat, the State still 
m.ore, and it managed to live. At its 
first public commencement in 1787 nine 
young men received the degree of A. B. 
Then followed eleven in '88 and '89, 
twelve in '90, none in '91, and in '92 the 
largest class of A. B.'s ever graduated 
save that of 1858, which still remains the 
Banner Class, at least in point of num- 
bers. A larger number have since gone 
out at the close of their course, which, 
in many cases, however, was partial only 
In 1798, the trustees purchased from 
the Penns a whole square on the western 
limits of the town, for one hundred and 
fifty dollars. A large building was then 





Key. Alexander H. Uibbuns, II. D., 'i3. 



Hju. Jiiiui^ I>. Watters, *5 5. 




Prof. "Warrin Holdeu, 'i3. 



John Veitch Shoem'iker, M.D., '72. 




LADIES' HALL. 




f" 




Jolill H. V'j\i., i'J. 



Eaiiauul B. Seymour, '63. 



12 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



erected, but while still incomplete, though 
partially occupied by students, it was to- 
tally destroyed by fire in February, 1783. 
Its destruction was regarded as a national 
calamity and raised up a multitvide of 
friends. Subscriptions poured in from 
unexpected quarters. In August of that 
year, a stone building, from plans sub- 
mitted to Latrobe, the government archi- 
tect, was commenced and West College 
stands to-day, a monument to those bene- 
factors of a century ago. In 1805 it 
was occupied though still unfinished. To 
within a recent period it contained a 
chapel, society, library, recitation and 
sleeping rooms, one end also being set 
apart for a professor's residence. 

Dr. Nisbet died in 1804, in his sixty- 
eighth year. Says Prof. Himes: "At 
home in all branches of human learning, 
he had his acquisitions so fully in hand 
that they were readily turned to account. 
He was a fluent speaker and in the pulpit 
never used aids of any kind. His imag- 
ination was lively, his wit keen, his sar- 
casm scathing, while he was fearless and 
unreserved, at times, perhaps, needlessly 
so, in his expressions of opinion or of 
censure. He had the use of at least nine 
languages and was at home in the whole 
range of classic literature. Some of his 
intellectual feats are incredible. While 
in Europe he was supposed to be one of 
the best Greek scholars it contained. His 
memory was as wonderful as his wit was 
unequalled. He could repeat whole 
books of Homer, the whole of the Aeneid. 
and is said to have often heard his recita- 
tions in the classics without a text book." 
His loss to the College seemed irrepara- 
ble. 

Among the graduates of this period 
were Roger B. Taney, afterwards Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States; Ninican Edwards, U. S. 
Senator; Callender Irvine, Commissary 
General U. S. A.; David McConaught, 
President of Washington College; John 
Nevin, the author of the first anti-slavery 
publications in this country; Henry 
Moore Ridgeley, U. S. Senator; and 
Judges, Legislators, College Professors 
and Clergymen in large numbers. 

Dr. Davidson succeeded Nesbit as 
Principal pro tern and held the position for 
five years, declining the Principalship. He 
resigned in 1809 and Dr. Samuel Miller 
was elected President, but declined, when 



Rev. Jeremiah Atwater, D. D., President 
of Middlebury College, Vermont, was- 
elected. During his regime, war with 
England was declared and in 18 14 the de- 
grees were conferred that year in absen- 
tia, all the Senior Class having been en- 
rolled for the defence of Philadelphia. 

In 181 5 President Atwater resigned 
and Rev. John McKnight was appointed 
principal pro tcm. The next year, in con- 
sequence of defections arising out of the 
management, operations were suspended 
and not resumed until 1821 with Rev. 
John M. Mason of New York as principal. 




Hon. liiiiaUo King. LL.T)., the oldest houor man, on whom 

was conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws in 

1896, and Gen. Horatio C. King, his son, 

class of '58, who was elected 

trustee the same year. 

His inauguration was attended with much 
ceremony, Chief Justice Gibson of Penn- 
sylvania administering the oath of office. 
In 1824 Dr. Mason resigned and was suc- 
ceeded by Rev. William Niell, D.D. 
Charges of political and sectarian influ- 
ence caused an investigation by the Leg- 
islature, and the mixed authority of the 
faculty and trustees over the students 
added to the confusion. In 1829 the en- 
tire faculty resigned, and in 1830 Rev. 
Samuel How, D. D., and a new corps ot 
instructors were inducted into office. 
Vigorous efforts were made to revive the 
fallen fortunes of the institution, the 




m 

w 

H 



H 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



alumni coming to the aid of the trustees 
and the facult}^ Among the former was 
James Buchanan, afterwards President of 
the United wStateSjWho graduated in 1809.* 
A petition was presented to the Legisla- 
ture to amend the charter so as to make 
the President of the College ex-ofUcio 
President of the Board of Trustees, and 
to commit the discipline wholly to the 
faculty, with the exception of an appeal 
to the trustees in case of expulsion. But 
the proposed reform came too late, and 
in March, 1832, the trustees concluded 
to suspend the operations of the College, 
which led to the transfer of the institution 
to the charge of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Its continuance and progress 
under that denomination, which still con- 
trols its destinies, will be described in the 
next issue of this Magazine. A few of 
the prominent graduates of this period 
were Robert Cooper Grier, Associate 
Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court; 
Richard Henry Lee, LL.D.; Judge 



Alexander Laws Hayes, LL.D; Judge 
Mordecai McKinney ; Judge John Webb 
Tyler; Judge Ross Wilkins; Rev. How- 
ard Malcolm, LL.D., preacher and 
author; Frederick Watts, LL.D., U. S. 
Commissioner of Agriculture; John 
Holmes Agnew, D. D., teacher and au- 
thor; Rev. George Washington Be- 
thune, D. D., famous pulpit orator and 
writer; Judge William L. Helfenstein. 
LL.D.; Prof. Erskine Mason, D. D.; John 
Godlove Morris, D. D.,LL.D., theologian 
and literateur; Samuel A. McCoskry, 
D.D., Bishop of Michigan; Samuel Ruth- 
erford Houston, D. D., clergyman and 
author; Henry Louis Baugher, D. D., 
President of Pennsylvania College: 
James H. Graham, LL.D., Jurist and 
Professor of Law in Dickinson College; 
William Marvel Nevin, LL.D., professor 
and author; Edward Young Buchanan, 
D. D., and Alfred Creigh, LL.D., physi- 
cian and author, and many others who 
were distinguished in various professions. 



Second Period. 



'TY LTHOUGH Dickinson College dur- 
xl ing the period already described 
was nominally under the care of the 
Presbytei-ian Church, the institution was 
by no means sectarian, its professors at 
various times having been selected from 
the Episcopalian, German Reformed, and 
other denominations, and its Board of 
Trustees was drawn from nearly all the 
Protestant sects. Although Methodism 
had taken a strong hold in the United 
States, its converts were mainly from the 
masses, and its chief supporters were 
mostly people of moderate means. At 
the close of the Revolutionary period it 
had less than fifty preachers and not quite 
fourteen thousand members; and these 
still regarded themselves as members of 
the Episcopal Church. Its declaration of 
independence, however, followed close 
upon the heels of peace, and the first 



bishop, Rev. Thomas Coke, D.C.L., of 
Oxford University, ordained by Wesley, 
presented his credentials to the Baltimore 
Conference in December, 1784. Erancis 
A. Asbury was appointed his coadjutor. 
Fresh life and vigor were infused into 
the infant church, and its members and 
influence rapidly increased. The need of 
higher education began to be sorely felt 
early in the present centur3^ But two 
Methodist colleges were in existence, Au- 
gusta in Kentucky and Wesleyan in Con- 
necticut, when proceedings were institu- 
ted to secure control of Dickinson. 
Cokesbury College, near Baltimore, 
should be mentioned, but this, after a pre- 
carious career of ten years, was aban- 
doned. In March, 1833, the trustees 
opened negotiations with the Baltimore 
Conference through Rev. Edward Dor- 
sey, chairman of the committee, and on 



*Buchauaa. Many yuars ago, ;u searching the archives of the Union Philosophical Society, I found these entries 

in the Secretary's minutes ; 

'• Constitution signed by James Buchanan March 29. 1801.' 

" March '^5, 1803, Mr. Buchanan read an essay on ' The Dangers of the Fair Sex.' " 

"November 24, 1803. On application of James Buchanan, he was honorably dismissed and a diploma granted him." 

"November '24, 1803. Mr. huchanan read an essay on • The Influence of the Fair Sex.' " 

Mr. Buchanan's fiancee died a short time before the day fixed for their marriage, and he remained faithful to her 

memory throughout life. 2 (■ g_ 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



15 




Rev. George Edward Eeed, D.D., LL.D., 
Presideut of DickinsDU College. 



the i8th of April the committee and trus- 
tees met. The Philadelphia Confer- 
ence united with the Baltimore Con- 
ference in the project. The plan of 
absorption finally adopted was by the 
gradual resignation of the then trustees 
and the election of Methodists desig- 
nated by the Conferences. Eighteen re- 
signations were thus accepted, and the 
new Board was organized by the elec- 
tion of Bishop Emery as President, and 
by the end of the year a complete change 
was effected without friction. A balance 
of three thousand dollars of the State ap- 



propriation and some bank stock, also on 
hand, were suf^cient to pay ofi the exist- 
ing liabilities and make necessary repairs 
and improvements on the buildings and 
grounds. The magnificent campus with 
its unsurpassed grove of stately trees is a 
monument to this early foresight. A sub- 
scription for an endowment of forty-five 
thousand dollars was started, Rev. John 
Price Durbin, D.D., editor of the 
Christian Advocate, was elected President 
and Professor of Moral Science, and the 
time of opening announced for May, 
1834. 



i6 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



The brilliancy of Dr. Durbin's admin- 
istration was always a glowing theme 
with the survivors of that period, and is 
still a dazzling tradition. He was a man 
of great literary and executive ability. 
He was born in Kentucky in 1800, and 
died in New York city in 1876. At four- 
teen he was apprenticed to a cabinet- 
maker; in 1819 he entered the Methodist 
itinerancy, studying at Miami University 
while preaching at Hamilton, Ohio; 
graduated at Cincinnati College in 1825. 
and was soon after appointed Professor 
of Languages in Augusta College. In 
1 83 1 he was chosen Chaplain of the 
United States Senate. Relinquishing that 
ofifice, he accepted the chair of Natural 
Sciences in Wesleyan University; in 1833 
he became editor of the Christian Advo- 
cate and Journal. In 1834 he was elected, 
as already stated. President of Dick- 
inson College, and during his incum- 
bency made an extensive tour in Europe 
and the East. In 1844, as a member of 
the General Conference, he took a promi- 
nent part in the contest which divided the 
Church on the slavery question. After 
his withdrawal from college work, he was 
Pastor, Presiding Elder, and Secretary 
of the Missionary Society. In the last 
field he built up foreign missions to an 
unprecedented extent and increased the 
annual contributions from $100,000 to 
$600,000. He published several impor- 
tant works and was everywhere famed 
for his eloquence and great administra- 
tive ability. 

Pending the reopening of the College, 
a grammar school of fifty pupils under 
Alexander F. Dobb was secured, six 
professors were agreed upon, a depart- 
ment of law under Judge John Reed estab- 
lished, and most important action was se- 
cured in the Legislature by making the 
President or Principal ex officio Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trustees, placing 
the entire discipline in the hands of the 
Faculty, with the right of appeal to the 
Board of Trustees only in case of expul- 
sion — a most salutary and vital measure. 

In May, 1834, forty-eight thousand 
dollars in subscriptions were reported, 
but the formal opening was deferred un- 
til September. At the designated time. 
Dr. Durbin was inaugurated, with Mer- 
ritt Caldwell as Professor of Exact 
Science, and Rev. Robert Emory, Pro- 
fessor of Ancient Languages. In 1835, 




Jolin Price Durbin, D.D., 
President of DicMnson College from 1834 to 1845. 

John M. Keagy, M.D., was chosen Pro- 
fessor of Natural Sciences, but died be- 
fore entering upon his duties, and was 
succeeded in 1836 by William Henry Al- 
len as Lecturer and subsequently Profes- 
sor, who remained with the College as 
Professor of Natural Sciences and Phi- 
losophy and English Literature until 
1848, when he was elected Presi- 
dent of Girard College in Philadelphia. 
To this latter work he consecrated the 
greater part of his remaining life, and 
died in 1882. Rev. John McClintock, of 
grand memory, was Professor of Math- 
ematics from 1836 to 1840, and for eight 
years thereafter Professor of Latin and 
Greek. He was accounted the most pro- 
found classic scholar of his day, and his 
subsequent career as editor of the Metho- 
dist Quarterly, as an eloquent pastor in 
the New York Conference and in Paris, 
as an author and President of Drew 
Theological Seminary, where he died in 
1870, secured for him high honor and 
lasting fame. 

South College, a brick structure, was 
purchased in 1835 for grammar school 
purposes. It was destroyed by fire, and 
the new building was used for like pur- 
pose as well as by the Professor of 
Sciences until the erection of the Tome 
Scientific building in 1884, when the 
latter department was transferred. It 
was surmounted by an observatory in 
which was an excellent telescope. One 
of the important uses to which the tele- 




«F^ 1^ 




John F. Bird, .M.D., '40, 
Trustee of the Colkge. 



Hou. D. J. M. l.o<.p. H. 





Pev. Tliomas Bowman, D.D., IJ-.I). 



liuv. Isiiar JJiUun, JJ.D., Jil 




,.*^ 




Hon. James W. MarKhiill, LL.l)., '4S 



Kev. T. Snowilen Thoiiiivs, •4,s. 





Charles B. YouiiL'. 'IK. 



Hon. E B. Prettymau. 'IS. 





The late Heury B. Ridgaway. D.D.. LL.D . '49. 



Hirbard ('. Patterson. '8' 




Eev. Jonathan K. Peck, '52. 




Ho 1. Xoah BowUis, '')i. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



scope lent itself on one occasion was tht 
discovery of several satellites, including 
the writer, who were playing cards in 
Room ^y, West College. East College 
was erected in 1836, of rough hewn lime- 
stone, the material used also in West Col- 
lege, as well as generally in dwellings 
throughout that section. 

Stephen Asbury Roszell, A.M., was 
Principal of the Grammar School from 
1835 to 1840, and also for two years 
during this period Professor of Latin 
and Greek. Thomas Emory Sudler, a 
graduate of West Point in 1820, and an 
A.M. of Dickinson in 1840, was Professor 
of Mathematics from 1840 to 185 1, was 
afterwards President of Wilmington 
(Delaware) Female College, and died 
there in i860. The resignation of Prof. 
Emory, on account of ill health, was 
a very serious loss. He resumed a 
pastorate, but acted as temporary 
President in 1842 during Dr. Durbin's 
absence in Europe. In 1845 Dr. Dur- 
bin severed his connection with the Col- 
lege to look after his private interests. 

Rev. Robert Emory was elected Presi- 
dent, and Spencer F. Baird of the Class 
of '40, who afterwards earned a world- 
wide reputation as the leading scientist 
of the Smithsonian Institute at Washing- 
ton, D.C., was chosen Professor of Nat- 
ural History and Curator of the Museum. 
Prof. Baird possessed ripe scholarship 
and an ardent love for his specialty 
which reflected great honor upon his 
alma mater. There was a marked in- 
crease in the number of students, as well 
as in the reputation of the institution. 
In 1846, Dr. George R. Crooks, a class- 
mate of Baird's, was made Adjunct Pro- 
fessor of Modern Languages. In con- 
junction with McQintock, he issued a 
number of valuable and popular Latin 
and Greek text-books. He resigned in 
1848, and many years after was elected 
President of Drew Theological Semi- 
nary, as successor of Bishop John F. 
Hurst of the Class of '54, and "died in 
harness" at a ripe old age, about a year 
ago. In 1848, after several years of fail- 
ing health, both Caldwell and Emory 
died, and McClintock and Crooks ten- 
dered their resignations. Their brilliant 
services to the College are remembered 
with profound gratitude, and the older 
graduates still refer to the term of their 
employment as the eqiial in culture and 



learning of any in the history of the Col- 
lege. 

An unfortunate incident during Prof. 
McClintock's term gave to the institu- 
tion an unpleasant notoriety. In the ef- 
fort to recapture a runaway slave, one 
of the pursuing party was killed by a 
fall. The distinguished educator was in- 
dicted as one of the abettors of the al- 
leged crime, but was promptly acquit- 
ted. 

Dr. Allen was acting President for a 
short time, until, in 1848, Rev. Jesse T. 
Peck was elected to the presidency; 
James W. Marshall of the Class of '48 
was chosen Adjunct Professor of Ancient 
Languages, and Rev. Otis H. Tififany, of 
the Class of '44, of Mathematics. 

Rev. Erastus Wentworth, D.D., was 
Professor of Natural Science from 1850 
to 1854, when he resigned to go as mis- 
sionary to China, a loss severely felt and 
greatly regretted. 

Dr. Peck was a clergyman of note, had 
been Principal of Gouverneur Wesleyan 
Seminary, New York, and Troy Confer- 
ence Academy, Vermont, and brought 
with him a commanding presence and a 
pleasant address; but he had had little 
experience with student life, not being a 
graduate of any college. He was sub- 
jected to much annoyance and many em- 
barrassments at the hands of the prank- 
loving students. One of these is still a 
treasured memory among the traditions 
of Dickinson. I heard it many years ago, 
and it may suffer somewhat in accuracy 
of detail by my recital. I believe I be- 
tray no secret in stating that the inven- 
tion of this practical joke is attributed to 
the now distinguished essayist and 
preacher, Moncure D. Conway. The 
story runs that Dr. Peck was about 
to attend the meeting of the Virginia 
Methodist Conference at Staunton, Va. 
Conway anticipated the visit by writ- 
ing to the Superintendent of the In- 
sane Asylum at that place that a harm- 
less lunatic, who believed himself to be 
the President of Dickinson College, had 
escaped from his custodians, as on pre- 
vious occasions, and that his peculiar 
idiosyncrasy was in attending confer- 
ences. He described the Doctor's some- 
what striking and portly appearance with 
minute detail, and represented that his 
friends were apprehensive that he would 
wander awav to Staunton, as he had in 





Rev. Jiimes A. McCauler, D.D. LL.D.. -IT 
President fiom 1872 to 1888. 



The late Kev. Heuiy M. Harmau, D.D., LL.D., '48, 
Pi'(ife.ss(>r Emeritus. 




J.\MES W. BOSLER MEMORIAL HALL. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



21 




Ovaudo B Super, Ph. D , "73, 
Professor of Moileni Lauguage.s. 



some way secured considerable funds be- 
fore his departure. Conway begged the 
asyhim authorities to be on the look out 
for him on his arrival, and when arrested, 
to notify the writer promptly, that some 
one might be sent to bring him home to 
his distressed family. In due course, the 
Reverend Doctor arrived at Staunton, 
was immediately recognized and hel<l in 
custody to await developments. The 
more the Doctor chafed, the more con- 
vinced were the attendants of his mental 
aberration, and it was some time, so the 
story goes, before they yielded to his 
entreaties to take him to the Conference, 



where his identity might be and was es- 
tablished. I believe this still stands un- 
surpassed in the annals of college prac- 
tical jokes, '■ 

Dr. Peck's Presidency embraced a 
period of four years, when he resigned 
to reenter the ministry. He was 
elected Bishop in 1872, and died m 1883 
at Syracuse, N. Y. The graduates from 
'<^33 to 1852 included many men of note. 
Among them were Alfred Nevin, 
D.D., LL.D., 1833, author, editor and 
pastor, and E. H. Nevin, D.D., 1833, his 
brother, President of Franklin College, 
Ohio; Thomas Bowman, D.D., LL.D., 



♦After tliis iirticle was in type, r met at UiiUiiison. Hon. Ohnrles B. Lore, chief .Iiistice of Delaware, of the class of 
1852. who was in college with Moncure D. Conway. Hi> informeil me that the practical .ioke on Dr. Peck was attributed not 
to Conway butpo John Quarlcs. a conspicuously mischievc us waK. in the class of '.W. 




^«^ 


n 


' % 


*^?y 


^H^H 


__^^w 


1^ 


- '^'"^M^^^^ 




IpTr :i:(r^|^^^^^^^B^ 



.Tames H. :\Iorj.au. Pli. D.. 'Ts. 
Profus.-nr of Oroi-lc and I'dlitical Ecimcinn. 



lloatfidui.ry 1'. Sclloi's, A.M.. 
rpircssof of (li'Viuaii aMcl EiiKlisli. 




SOUTH (JOLLEGE. 





William M. Parsons, '5fi. 



James F. Purvis, '5fi , 





Fraiilt S. Fiiidlay. '57, 



Thomas N. Conrad. '57, 
President Virginia Afji-iciiltwral College. 





Hon. William E. F. Ueal.T)'.!. 



Pi-nf Alexander H. Ege, Tifl. 



24 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



1837, Bishop of the M. E. Church; Wil- 
h'am Brown Parker, 1837, United States 
Army; Andrew Gregg- Curtin, the famous 
War Governor of Pennsylvania, from the 
Law School in 1837; George Purnell 
Fisher, 1838, M.C. and Judge of the 
Supreme Court in the District of Colum- 
bia; Thomas Vernon Moore, D.D., 
1835, author and preacher; William Ry- 
land Woodward, of Washington, D.C., 
the eldest trustee in years and length of 
service, having held the office since 
1859; R. L. T. Beale, Law School, 1838, 
noted cavalry general in the Confederate 
Army; Daniel E. M. Bates, LL.D., 
1839, Chancellor of Delaware; Charles 
F. Deems, D.D., LL.D., 1885, professor, 
author and editor, and for many years 
pastor of the Church of the Strangers in 
New York city; James B. ScouUer, D.D., 
1839, author and editor; Dr. John Fran- 
cis Bird, 1840, distiguished physician; 
Richard V. B. Lincoln, 1841, Jurist; Wil- 
liam Brown Carr, 1841, College Profes- 
sor and President; Robert Henry Patter- 
son, D.D., 1843, father of ex-Governor 
Patterson of Pennsylvania; Eli Sauls- 
bury, LL.D., Law School, 1843, United 
States Senator from Delaware; George 
Hawkins McCabe, LL.D., 1844, distin- 
guished professor; Alfred B. McCal- 
mont, 1844, lawyer and colonel U. S. V.; 
Wm. McF. Penrose, 1844, lieutenant col- 
onel U. S. v.; Otis H. Tififany, D.D., 

1844, noted preacher and orator; Hon. 
Diego J. M. Loop, 1844, lawyer; James 
M. Follause, 1844, preacher and Presi- 
dent of Charlestown Female College, 
West Virginia; John Carson, 1845, law- 
yer and trustee; Robert M. Henderson, 

1845, lawver and brigadier general 
U. S. V. ; Robert S. Maclay, D.D.,'^Super- 
intendent of Missions in Japan; Joseph 
B. McEnally, 1845, J^^dge of Supreme 
Court, Pennsylvania; Isaac Newton Ur- 
ner, LL.D., 1845, President of Missis- 
sippi College; Robert L. Dashiell, D.D., 

1846, President of Dickinson College; 
Richard A. F. Penrose, M.D., LL.D., 
1846; Beverly R. Waugh, President 
Pennsylvania Female College; Charles 
W. Carrigan, 1847, lawyer and Judge of 
Probate, Philadelphia; fames A. McCau- 
ley, D.D., LL.D., 1847, President of 
Dickinson College; John M. Robinson, 

1847, Ji-idge of the Court of Appeals, 
Maryland; Edwin H. Webster, 1847, col- 
onel U. S. v.; Samuel Wingard, 1847, 



Judge of the Supreme Court, Washing- 
ton Territory; William L. Boswell, 1848, 
Professor in Dickinson College and trus- 
tee; John A. J. Cresweh, LL.D., 1848, 
Postmaster General; Charles B. Young, 
1848, preacher; Henry M. Harman, 
D.D., LL.D., 1848, Professor in Dick- 
inson College; James W. Marshall, 1848, 
Professor in Dickinson College and 
Postmaster General; Bernard H. Nadal, 
D.D., 1848, Professor in Drew Theo- 
logical Seminary; Elijah B. Prettyman, 
1848, lawyer and M.C; Moncure D. 
Conway, 1849, author and preacher; 
Samuel A. Graham, colonel U. S. V. ; 
John J. Jacob, 1849, Governor of West 
Virginia and Judge; Nathaniel T. Lup- 
ton, M.D., LL.D., 1849, President Uni- 
versity of Alabama ; Henry B. Ridgway, 
D.D., 1849, President of Garrett Biblical 
Institute; Samuel B. Hillman, Ph.D., 
1850, Professor in Dickinson College; 
Charles Comfort Tififany, D.D., 1850, 
Archdeacon Episcopal Church, New 
York; William C. Wilson, Ph.D., 1850, 
Professor in Dickinson College, and 
William V. B. Tudor, D.D., 1850, of the 
St. Louis Conference. I am indebted to 
the last named for an incident probably 
unparalleled in the history of any insti- 
tution. Tififany, Wilson, Hillman, and 
Tudor, all had equal standing for the 
highest honor, the Valedictory. The 
Faculty declined to discriminate, and 
these four honor men distributed the 
commencement speeches as they saw fit. 
To resume: Amos F. Musselman, 1851, 
lawyer and M.C; Rev. Theo. M. Car- 
son, 1852, Chaplain Confederate Army, 
Rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 
Lynchburgh; Ulvsses Hobbs, 1852, col- 
onel U. S. v., and Ralph Pierce, D.D., 
1852, President of Holstein Seminary. 
These are but a few of the graduates who 
have distinguished themselves in many 
walks of life — the law, medicine, church 
and the army. Lack of space compels 
me to omit many others worthy of men- 
tion. I have no doubt failed to refer to 
many whose names will be missed, as I 
did in my previous article that of Rev. 
Matthew Brown, 1794, "who," writes Col- 
onel J. J. McCook, "as President of both 
Washington and Jefiferson Colleges, 
probably exerted a wider influence in an 
educational way than any alumnus of 
Dickinson." 

The time is now at hand when, as a 





TlK,' laic Alfred W. Sims, C. E., ■4(1. 



Hou. Vincent Bierbowcr, 'CG. 




Samuel J. Jouos, AM).. 1,1,. I)., ' 



Ucv. Ourwen B. Fisher, A.M.. 'MS. 



26 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



youth, my attention was first attracted to 
my alma mater. In 185 1 an effort was 
made to create an endowment fund by 
the sale of scholarships at a remarkably 
low rate of twenty-five dollars for four 
years' tuition, fifty dollars for ten years', 
and one himdred dollars for twenty-five 
years'. The subscription amounted to 
$100,000, but the net payments reached 



Methodist parents, he graduated at Wes- 
leyan Luiiversity in 1837, was ordained 
and entered at once upon his life work as- 
teacher, as Principal of the High School 
at Augusta in his native State. Shortly 
after, he was a tutor in Wesleyan, and 
was thence chosen to the Presidency of 
Emory and Henry College, Virginia, 
where he remained until called to Dick- 




Rev. Henry C. 'S^Tiitin?, Ph. D., 
Professor of Latin. 



only$6o,ooo. Although the expectations 
of the promoters of the scheme were not 
realized, the active canvass brought the 
College into greater publicity and a 
corresponding increase in the number of 
students. Upon the retirement of Dr. 
Peck, Rev. Charles Collins, D.D., was 
chosen President. He was my mother's 
brother. Born near Portland, Me., of 



inson, in 1852. In this position he re- 
mained until i860. As his salary and 
family did not increase in the same rapid 
ratio, he resigned and became President 
and proprietor of the State Female Col- 
lege at Memphis, Teim., where he died in 
July, 1875. Dr. Collins entered upon his 
duties when the discipline of the institu- 
tion was at low water mark. His first en- 




THE NEW DENNY MEMORIAL HALL. 




JHon. Jacol) Toinc, 
Trustee oC tlio CollcKc 



Hon. Kobcrt E. Pattison, LL.D., '84, 
Trustee of the College. 





Prof. Willii;!!! H. Zimmeiujuij, la, 
Of Maryland State College. 



llov. K. Hart I Coiildin,"; 7J. 





Eon. .Tanu's B. Bclford, '.'59. 



.Marion D. Learned, Ph. D..'RO. 
Professor of the Germanic LauKiiaRe and Literature at the 

Univer-ity of Pcnn>iylvania. 





William H. Griffitli, '58. 



Hon. Albert H. Slape, '5< 
Trustee. i8T0-'82. 





S. Cusliiiian Calilwi'll. '.58, 
Of the \ew York Tribune Editorial Staff. 



Uuv. John A. Munroe, '55. 




1 


4lS^- ISSj 






.*N.^ 


Ti" 


JFUt'Sii*- • 




*■>■ 




■■^l^^t 






1^ 


W^^-''- 








'I^B^^ 




A 






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1 "^ 




n 


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HfcE-s'Vt.'JMM 




1 



Hon. William H. Getzendaner, '58. 



The late Thomas's. Reese, '58. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



31 



■counter with the students indicated to 
some extent the character of the man. It 
was at evening prayers, which preceded 
the supper hour. Dr. Colhns conducted 
the services and then undertook to make 
some suggestions as to his future policy. 
The students responded with the tactics 
■common under the previous regime by 
scraping the uncarpeted floor with their 
feet, rendering the voice inaudible. 
Every vocal effort was thus suppressed. 
The Doctor maintained the utmost com- 
posure, viewing the turbulent crowd with 
.apparent unconcern. For an hour the con- 
test proceeded, butwithout loss of temper 
•on the part of the new chief. The sup- 
per hour passed, and the vision of cold 
victuals, or no victuals at all, began to 
■chase through the brains of the unruly 
■crowd. A student's stomach is his first 
concern. Gradually the scraping dimin- 
ished and at last wholly ceased. The 
Doctor delivered his philippic as if no- 
thing had happened to mar the serenity 
•of the occasion, and the victory was won. 
The boys had "sized" him up, and he 
never had any more trouble. They learn- 
■ed to respect his fairness, moderation, 
superlative judgment and executive 
force, and he was universally respected 
and beloved. 

The scholarship system went into op- 
eration in 1854, and a greater number 
thronged to the institution than had ever 
before congregated within its walls. In 
fact the walls were not capacious enough, 
and the newcomers overflowed into the 
private boarding houses of the town. The 
writer was among the number, and they 
were a heterogeneous mass, gathered in 
mainly from Pennsylvania and the border 
States, though some came from as far 
south as Georgia, allured by the prospect 
-of securing an education for a seemingly 
nominal sum. It is a fact that many came 
under the impression that the scholar- 
ship included room-rent, lights, fuel 
and board, and it was gravely asserted 
that some of the greenest expected 
their clothing and washing would also 
be thrown in. A very large number 
were wholly unprepared to enter upon 
the College course, and returned home, 
leaving the total at the end of the 
year two hundred and forty-five. The 
Faculty was a strong one. Dr. Col- 
lins, in addition to his duties as Presi- 
dent, instructed in Moral Science. Rev. 



Herman Johnson, D.D., was Professor 
of Philosophy and English Literature. 
He was a profound and zealous stu- 
dent and of a gentle and lovable 
disposition. He was also a graduate of 
Wesleyan, had been a teacher always, 
was President of the College from i860 
to 1868, and died in office in the latter 
year. Prof. James W. Marshall, already 
mentioned, filled the chait of ancient lan- 
guages with marked ability and was 
warmly esteemed for his genial qualities 
and earnest desire to make the classics, 
as he did to me, a delightful study. In 
i860 he added Latin and French to his 
duties. In 1862 he was appointed Consul 



r 




Gen. Horatio C. Kiug. LL.D., '.'58, 
Trustee of the College. 

to Leeds; in 1869 he received the appoint- 
ment of First Assistant Postmaster 
General at the hands of his old classmate, 
Cresswell, then Postmaster General, 
whom he succeeded for a short time as 
Postmaster General. He is now living in 
a hearty and happy old age in Fau- 
quier County, Va., spending his win- 
ters in Washington city. Rev. Otis 
H. Tiffany, then prominent and after- 
wards famous as a pulpit orator in the 
Methodist Church, was Professor of 
Mathematics. William C. Wilson was 
Professor of Natural Science, and Alex- 
ander J. Schem was Professor of He- 





A. Foster Mulliu. 'S8, 
Trustee of tlie College. 



Adam F. Townseud, '50. 




THE WILLIA:\I (LAIiK ALLI^SON MKMOKIAL CHAPIX. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



33 



brew and the Modern Languages. 
Schem was born in Germany, was at 
the Universities of Bonn and Tubingen 
from 1843 to 1846, came to this country 
in 185 1, and was called to Dickinson in 
1854, His scholarship was of the high- 
est order, but he was somewhat hindered 
by his deficient control of English. His 
published works attest his deep learning. 
In i860 he broke down from over-work 
and died a few years later in New York. 
Benjamin Arbogast was tutor, and Sam- 
uel D. Hillman and Rev. Wm. A. Snive- 
ly had charge of the Preparatory Depart- 
ment as Principal and Assistant. 

The class which entered in i854was the 
largest that had up to that time ever 
entered the College. After the sifting 
process had been completed, it numbered 
fifty-six. As this was my class, I may 
be pardoned a little digression at this 
point. During the four years' course, 
it lost two by death (one in the Fresh- 
man and one in the Senior year) and 
graduated thirty-five in the degree of 
A.B. This number of A.B. graduates 
still stands the highest on the record. Of 
these, thirteen became ministers, eight 
lawyers, four physicians, two editors, six 
teachers, including one College Presi- 
dent (J. A. Lippincott), two bankers, and 
the rest in other avocations. Of the fore- 
going, four were in the Union Army and 
eight in the Confederate service. One 
Union soldier died in camp and one Con- 
federate was killed at the second battle 
of Bull Run. Nineteen have "crossed the 
river." 

It was a lively set of boys, always ready 
for harmless fun, but above malicious 
mischief. Some of its members spent 
most of a night propelling two calves up 
a fight of stairs into Professor Wilson's 
recitation room, to be rewarded at the 
recitation by the caustic remark, "I think 
your class is large enough already." 

The only changes in the instructors 
from 1854 to 1858 were the appointment 
of William L. Boswell, already spoken of, 
as Professor of Mathematics in place of 
Prof. TiiTany, resigned; Charles S. Blu- 
menthal, Professor of Modern Lan- 
guages, and James P. Marshall and Ben- 
jamin F. Pursel as assistants in the Gram- 
mar School. 

The political agitation which preceded 
the election of Mr. Lincoln as President 
and the success of the Republican party 



had a marked and unfavorable efifect upon 
the attendance of the students, especially 
from the border states. Then came the 
war, which played sad havoc with all the 
border colleges, depleting their numbers 
to increase the ranks of both the Union 
and Confederate armies. With Dickin- 
son it was a struggle for existence, and 
in 1863 the buildings themselves narrow- 
ly escaped destruction at the hands of the 
Confederate incursionists, in whose ranks 
were found many of the former students 
of the institution. The venerable walls 
still bear the scar of an unfriendly shell 
from the retiring column which was ner- 
vously retreating from a somewhat dan- 
gerous position. Other than this war epi- 
sode, there was little to disturb the cur- 
rent of events. On the retirement of 
Prof. Marshall, John K. Stayman, of the 
class of '41, was added to the Faculty and 
held his position until 1874; also James 
Hutchinson Graham, who retired in 1882. 
The finances were at a low ebb, but with 
the close of the war hope revived and the 
college took a new lease of life. Prof. 
Wilson died in March, 1865, and in the 
June following, Charles F. Himes, of the 
class of '55, was chosen to fill the vacan- 
cy. He came from the Troy Universitv, 
where for several years he was Professor 
of Mathematics. His long connection 
with his alma mater, from which he with- 
drew only a year ago, calls for more than 
a passing mention. I knew him in his 
senior year, and he was then noted as a 
thorough and conscientious student. He 
had a natural instinct for teaching, and 
began at once his life work, first at Wy- 
oming Seminary, next at Baltimore Fe- 
male College, and then as Professor of 
Mathematics in Troy University. Two 
years he spent at the University of Gies- 
sen in Germany, and then was called to 
the chair of Natural Science in his alma 
mater, which, with the chair of Physics, 
he held until his resignation in 1896. Hfs 
publications on scientific subjects have 
won for him an extended reputation, and 
he ranks with the foremost of scientific 
men in this country. Prof. Himes is still 
a comparatively young man, born in 
1838, and his retirement from the dailv 
routine of instruction was to enable him 
to pursue more actively his thirst for re- 
search and experiment. And just here T 
desire to acknowledge my indebtedness 
to his more elaborate historv of Dickin- 





Prof. Henry W. Abbctt, 'GO. 



Hon. -James F. Rusling. LL.D., '54, 
Trustee 1869-'77. 




Eev. Jesse Bowman Young, D.D., '63. 



r 


% 


t^ELm^ 


JT, 




y'^. 


m. 





> 

^ — , 





Eev. William D. Clayton, '63. 



William D. Luckenbach, LL.D., '64. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



35 



son College for many of the facts present- 
ed in this necessarily condensed article. 

Prof. Boswell resigned in 1855. The 
next year Rev. S. L. Bowman, of the 
class of '55, was made Professor of Greek 
and Hebrew, and at the same time 
an elective scientific course was estab- 
lished. But the college languished for 
lack of funds, and, in 1866, the centennial 
year of Methodism, a special effort was 
made which resulted in an additional en- 
dowment of $100,000. 

In 1868 President Johnson died. The 
long struggle through adversity was just 
verging on peace and comparative pros- 
perity when, at fifty-three, his never vig- 
orous system succumbed after a brief and 
seemingly slight illness. Prof. Hillman 
acted as president until the election of 
Rev. Robert L. Dashiell, D.D., of the 
class of '46, in September, 1868. Dr. 
Dashiell held the position for four years, 
and having been elected Missionary Sec- 
retary to succeed Dr. Durbin, gave way 
to Rev. Tames A. McCauley, D. D., 
LL.D., of'the class of '47. Dr. McCau- 
ley had an exalted reputation as a 
preacher and was much beloved, but he 
was hampered somewhat by a weak phy- 
sique and resigned his position in 1889. 
He was succeeded bv the present incum- 
bent. Rev. George E.'Reed, D. D., LL.D. 
The members of the faculty since Dr. 
McCauley's election include Prof. Will- 
iam Trickett, now an LL. D., and the dis- 
tinguished head of the law school; Henry 
Martvn Hermann, LL.D., one of the 
most noted Oriental scholars, whose re- 
tirement last year was greatly deplored; 
Rev. Joshua A. Lippincott, of the class of 
'58, already mentioned ; William R. Fish- 
er, from 1874 to 1876: Charles J. Little, 
1874 to 1885: Henry Clay Whiting, 1879; 
Aaron Rittenhouse, 1883 to 1890; Fletch- 
er Durrell, Ovando B. Super, Jas. Henry 
Morgan, William B. Lindsay, Bradford 
O. Mclntire, Robert W. Rogers, Rev. 
Lyman J. Muchmore (Director of Physi- 
cal Training), Rev. Robert W. Rogers, 
Ph. D. ; Willow G. Lake, A. M. (Instruct- 
or Phvsical Culture, etc.); William K. 
Dare, A. M.; Harry F. Whiting, A. M.; 
Montgomery P. Sellers, Ph. B.; William 
W. Landers. A. M.; Morris W. Prince, 
S. T. D., and John F. Mohler, A. M. I 
realize that this is but the barebones of 
history, but I cannot help it. The restric- 
tions as to space are inexorable. Some 



of these are still members of the faculty, 
and shall receive more extended mention. 
The election of Dr. Reed as president 
was the beginning of a new era in the col- 
lege life and activity. In the prime of his 
manhood, zealous, earnest, hopeful and 
courageous, he entered upon his duties 
with a determined purpose that infused 
new life into the institution. He was 
born in 1846, graduated at Wesleyan 
Lfniversity in 1869; received A. M. in 
1872, D. D. in 1888, and LL. D. from 
Lafayette in 1889. His successful pastor- 
ates at Willimantic, Fall River, New Ha- 
ven and Brooklyn; his numerous pub- 
lished articles; his success on the lecture 
platform, and his many-sided but well- 
rounded character as a man led the Board 




Charles F. Himes, Ph. D., LL.D.. 
Late Professor of Physics. 

of Trustees to select him for this arduous 
and most responsible position. His 
marked success has more than exceeded 
their expectations, and the College has 
attained its highest degree of prosperity 
under his management. The secret of 
his success is his tact, his insight, his thor- 
ough sincerity and his indomitable perse- 
verance. He understands young men. 
He knows how to draw them to him. He 
is sympathetic, considerate and just; dig- 
nified but not austere, cordial but not ef- 
fusive, gracious without flatter}- — in a 
word, an ideal President whom the stu- 





Cbarlos G. Bi"KS. ".('. 



Prof. George E. Wilbur, 'T-i, 
of I he Pennsvlvania State Normal School. 





I'lof. William P. Headilen, Ph. D., 
Ol ti, s ., ..Hiu'ii.t I > , I'ort Co'.Uns, Cul. 



.loliTi F. Dlllnii, iNT.l).,'76. 
Surgeon S. P. Co. K.K., San Francisco. 





Prof. ^V. bauiliert GoodinK. A. "1.. I . i'. VI. 
I'ruicipal of i oiiferencc Academy. Dover, Del. 



J. W. S. Cochrane, "74. 





Joseph B. Parker, M.Li., '60, 
Surgeon U. S. Navy. 



Josepli G. Hamblen, '66. 



#* 


f 


^i^^ %^ ^' 


'i^H^^K^^ BH^HH^ 




George Baylor, '60, 
Counsel for the B. & 0. Railroad. 



Charles W. Super, Ph. D., '6fi, 
President of the Ohio University. 





Henry P. Cannon, '70, 
Trustee of the College. 



Eev. Charles T. Dunning, '72. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



39 



dents all respect and admire, and who has 
aroused in the alumni a greater interest 
in their alma mater than any of his prede- 
cessors in forty years. 

The present faculty includes Henry M. 
Harman, D. D., LL.D.; Emeritus Pro- 
fessor of Greek and Hebrew; Henry C. 
Whiting, Professor of Latin; Ovando B. 
Super, Ph.D., Professor of Modern Lan- 
guages; James H. Morgan, Ph.D., Pro- 
fessor of Greek; William B. Lindsay. 
Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry; Bradford 
O. Mclntire, Ph.D.; Thomas Beaver, 
Professor of Rhetoric and English Lit- 
erature; William K. Dare, A.M., Profes- 
sor of Philosophy and Pedagogy; Will- 
iam W. Landis, A.M., Professor of Math- 
ematics; John F. Mohler, Professor of 
Physics; Morris W. Prince, S.T.D., Pro- 
fessor of History and Political Sciences; 
Henry M. Stephens, A.M., Adjunct Pro- 
fessor of Physical Culture; Harry F. 
Whiting, A. M., Adjunct Professor oi 
Latin and Mathematics ; Montgomery P. 
Sellers, A.M., Adjunct Professor of Ger- 
man and English, and Martha E. Bar- 
bour, Physical Culture of Young Ladies. 
In the law school are William Trickett, 
LL.D., Dean and Professor of the law of 
real estate; Hon. Wilbur F. Sadler, 
A.M., Professor of Criminal Law; Hon. 
J. M. Weaklev, Professor of Law and 
"Pleading; H. Silas Stuart, A.M., Profes- 
sor of the Law of Partnership; George 
Edward Mills, A.B., LL.B., Professor of 
Law of Torts; M. W. Jacobs, A.M., Pro- 
fessor of Equity; Albert H. Bolles, Ph.D., 
Professor of the Law of Contracts; Will- 
iam K. Dare, A.M., and Fred E. Downes 
are Principal and Vice-Principal of the 
Preparatory School, with Mervin G. Fil- 
ler, A.M., 'Paul P. Appenzellar, Ph.B., 
and Amv I'^ishcr in the staff. 

Of these Professor Harman was called 
to the chair of Ancient Languages in 
1870. An account of his journeys in the 
East and his "Introduction to the Study 
of the Holy Scriptures," of whicli four 
editions have been sold, are but a small 
part of the great work of this profound 
scholar. Dr. Whiting, who was ap- 
pointed Professor of Latin and Gernian 
in 1884, is also a prolific contributor to 
scientific and other works and published 
Hurst and Whiting's "Seneca," which 
has reached its fourth edition. 

Professor Super, of the class of 'y^, 
returned in 1884 as Profes.sor of Modern 
Languages. His travels in France and 



Germany and his mastery of the lan- 
guages of those countries have brought 
forth "A French Reader," "Stories from 
Souvestre," "Readings from French Flis- 
tory," "Anderson's Maerchen," "Erck- 
mann-Chatrian's Waterloo," "Lessing's 
Emilia Galotti," "Halevy's L'Abbe Con- 
stantine," "GermanReader," "Erckmann 
and Chatrian's Consent de 1813." Dr. 
Morgan is an alumnus of 1878 and was 
elected Professor of Greek and Political 
Economy in 1890. L'r. Lindsay was cho- 
sen Professor of Chemistry in 1885 and 
has published a revision of Eliot and Sto- 
rer's "Qualitative Analysis" and Storer 
and Lindsay's "Manual of Chemistry." 
Professor Mclntire came in 1890, while 
Professors Dare, Landis, Stephens, Flar- 
ry I-\ Whiting and Sellers, all graduates 
of Dickinson, have been counted worthy 
to take their places in the ranks of her 
instructors. Dr. William I'nckett, class 
oi "68, Dean of the Law School, had been 
connected with the College for malB' • 
years in the scholastic departicent. L'n= 
dtr l:is able management the school has 
attaiiied great success, its graduating 
class in 1896 numbering tb.irty-tvvo. 

Although the College is still waiting 
for a Rockefeller, a Stanford or an Astor 
to bestow an endowment adequate to all 
its progressive demands, it has not been 
Vvithout friends in the century of its ex- 
isLcnce. Not the least of these have been 
its devoted trustees, who, wivliout com- 
pensation, have administererl its affairs 
and hel]:)ed it on occasions without num- 
ber in sums not startling in the individ- 
ual contribution, but significant in the 
gross amount and the work accom- 
plished. Rut the College has been for- 
tunate in liberal aid from time to time. 
A bequest of Thomas Kelso of $10,000 
and one of v$i,ooo from Dr. John F. Fish- 
er, both of Baltimore, helped materially. 
In 1884 Hon. Jacob Tome, of Port De- 
posit, Md., a trustee, contributed the 
funds to erect a scientific building, one 
of the most convenient and best equipped 
in the country. It is 184 feet long and 56 
feet wide, built of the native limestone 
trimmed with Ohio sandstone, highly 
architectural without the sacrifice of 
space, and contains recitation and pro- 
fessors' rooms, laboratory, chemical de- 
partment and museum. Mr. Tome, like 
Peter Cooper, has enjoyed the privilege 
of being his own executor, and each year 
meets with the trustees in this building 




■\^E■^'S OF DICKINSON COLLEGE. 




Walter A. Powell, '78. 



Guy Le Roy Stevick, '85. 




Rkhatil Van li. Lincoln, '41, 





Eev. Franklin F. Bond, '81^. 



Wilbur M. Stine, '86, 

Director of Electrical E;i4neering in Armonr 

Institute of Te_-hnologv. 





James Elliott, '78 



Pi'of, 'William B. Langsdorf, 
Of Miami UuiTersity. 





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Mary Evans Kosa, '8i). 



Piof. C. W. M. Black, '89, 
Of We5leyan Academy. 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



43 



to further the interests of the College to 
whose success he has so generously con- 
tributed. The memory of James W. Hos- 
ier, a resident of Carlisle, who, in his life- 
time, had been liberal to the College, was 
perpetuated by his widow by the erection 
of the "James W. Bosler Memorial Li- 
brary Hall," which, with its furnishings, 
cost $74,000. It supplies accommoda- 
tions for the College and society libraries 
(the Belles Lettres and Union Philos- 
sophical), a reading room and a hall cap- 
able of accommodating about eight hun- 
dred, and much needed for commence- 
ment and frequent public exercises. A 
fine gymnasium, the gift of one who de- 
sires his name withheld, was thoroughly 
equipped by the late William C. Allison, 
of Philadelphia, who aided the College 
by numerous benefactions. The Denny 
Memorial Building, of Humelstown 
brownstone, and of the Elizabethan order 
of architecture, was erected on ground 
long in the Denny family donated by 
Miss Matilda Denny and Mrs. Mary 
O'Hara Spring, of Pittsburgh. It con- 
tains two splendid society halls for the 
two Hterary societies already named, and 
also recitation rooms and administration 
offices. The society halls conmiemorate 
the benefactions of A. Herr Smith and 
Eliza E. Smith. A magnificent church, 
styled the William C. Allison Memorial 
Church, which forms a part of the College 
group of buildings, indicates the source 
from which that contribution was re- 
ceived. 

A ladies' hall conveys the information 
that coeducation is encouraged, and the 
list of lady graduates, though not formi- 
dable, has been most honorable. The 
law school building and the athletic field 
complete the facilities of the institution. 
Liberal prizes, sixteen in number, incite 
the zealous student to active effort. 

I wish it were practicable for me to re- 
cite the names and deeds of the graduates 
of this later period, many of whose fa- 
miliar faces appear in this and the pre- 
ceding section. The records are preserved 
and will appear in the next general cata- 
logue of the alumni. The unflagging in- 
terest in their alma mater of those who 
have responded is gratefully appreci- 
ated. 

The present Board of Trustees com- 
prises Rev. George Edward Reed, D.D., 
LL.D., c.v officio. Rev. Bishop Cvrus D. 
Foss, D.D., LL.D., Philadelphia; Rep- 



resentatives-at-Large, Gov. Daniel H. 
Hastings, LL.D., Harrisburg; Ex-Gov. 
Robert E. Pattison, LL.D., Philadelphia; 
William C. Allison, Esq., Philadelphia; 
Gen. Horatio C. King, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; 
Representatives from Baltimore Confer- 
ence, William R.Woodward, Esq., Wash- 
ington, D. C; Henry M. Wilson, M.D., 
Baltimore, Md.; Hon. Louis E. McCo- 
mas, Washington, D. C. ; Rev. David H. 
Carroll, D.D., Baltimore, Md.; Rev. Lu- 
ther T. Widerman, D.D., Annapolis, Md. ; 
Rev. John H. Dashiell, D.D., Annapolis, 
Md.; Hon. Milton G. Urner, Frederick, 
Md.; Thomas C. Smith, Esq., Washing- 
ton, D. C; Hon. William Daniell, Balti- 
more, Md.; Representatives from Phila- 




■WilUam Ti'ickett. LL.D., 
Dean of the Dickinson College Law School. 

delphia Conference, John F. Bird. M.D., 
Philadelphia; Rev. William J. Paxson, 
D.D., Reading; Hon. John B. Storm, 
Stroudsburg; Rev. William L. Boswell, 
JamesLong, Esq.,A.H.McFadden, Esq., 
Thos. Bradley, Esq., all of Philadelphia; 
Representatives from Central Pennsylva- 
nia Conference, J. Herman Bosler, Esq., 
Carlisle; Charles H. Mullin, Esq.. Mount 
Holly Springs; Gen. John Patton, Cur- 
wensvillc; Rev. William W. Evans, D.D., 
Harrisburg; S. W. Murray. Esq., Mil- 
ton; Rev. W. A. Stephens, D.D., Clear- 
field; John S. Bursk, Esq., Carlisle; Rep- 
resentatives from New Jersey Conference, 
William H. Bodinc, Esq., Williamstovvn, 




L.«'C 



DICKINSON COLLEGE. 



45 



N. J.; Rev. J. B. Graw, D.D., Trenton, N. 
J.; William D. Mullin, Esq., Trenton, N. 
J.; C. W. Shoemaker, Esq., Bridgeton, 
N. J. ; Col. W. H. Skirm, Trenton, N. J. ; 
Rev. B. C. Lippincott, D.D., Vineland, 
N. J.; Hon. C. E. Hendrickson, Mount 
Holly, N. J.; Representatives from Wil- 
mington Conference, Hon. Jacob Tome, 
Port Deposit, Md.; William H. Jackson, 
Esq., Salisbury, Md.; Rev. T. E. Martin- 
dale, D.D., Milford, Del. ; Hon. Charles 
B. Lore, Wilmington, Del. ; Lewis E. 
Barrett, D.D., Wilmington, Del.; Joseph 
E. Holland, Esq., Milford, Del.; Repre- 
sentatives from the Alumni, A. Foster 
Mullin, Esq., Mount Holly Springs; Hen- 
ry P. Cannon, Esq., Bridgeville, Del.; 
Professor Robert C. Cole, A. M., E. O. 
Shakespeare, M.D., and Rev. J. A. Lip- 
pincott, Philadelphia, and Frank C. 
Bosler, Esq., Carlisle, Pa. 

No one realizes more than myself the 
difficulty of paying an adequate tribute 
to this honored institution in the restrict- 
ed space alloted to a magazine sketch. 
There are manifest to me many sins of 
omission. I hope none of commission 
will be discovered by others. I need a 
bulky volume to tell of all the grand old 
College has done for mankind and for the 
country. It has not striven to rival the 
great universities in the number of its 
students. On the contrary, it is its prime 
attraction that the assemblage is never so 
great as to deprive each student of that 
close touch with every member of the fac- 
ulty, from the President down, and that 




Ij^^Hb' ^^^K ^' ' i^ 



uiorge Jsdward Mills, A.M., 'HI, 

Professor of Torts and Domestic Eelations in the 

School of Law. 

wholesome influence and restraint which 
are practically unknown to university life. 
It is gratifying to record that the College 
was never so prosperous as at the present 
day; never better ecjuipped in Faculty 
and endowment ; and never more hopeful 
of fulfilling the mission of its founder. 

Alma stater, tried and true, 
Noble Dickinsonium. 

Oft our hearts shall turn to you. 
Noble Dickinsonium. 

How each ancient classic hall. 

Fondest memories recall, 

Sao-od is each grizzly wall, 
Noble Dickinsonium. 




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RICHARD A. McCURDY, President 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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